Thanks to reader Eliot, I learned today that San Diego has added another pet relief area to its line-up, and this one is on the air side of security! Although the room is small, and the area to pee on even smaller (see the picture, below), that’s huge news. It takes about an hour, when all goes smoothly, to exit an airport SAN’s size, find the land-side pet relief area, convince your dog that the place and time are right, and then return through security. An air-side pet relief area, even one tucked at the far (and I mean far) end of Terminal 2 West, is a win for travelers with dogs (I only know of two others, one at Seattle’s airport and the others at Washington’s Dulles airport).

The new pet relief area in SAN’s Terminal 2 West

The traveler’s aide I spoke to at SAN tells me that the new indoor pet relief area is up by Gate 45, or maybe Gate 46, and that I’ll see signs for it as I approach it.

San Diego was the first airport Chloe and I visited together, when I picked her up from her breeder and flew her home to Seattle. Here’s what I said then about one of SAN’s outdoor pet relief areas, located between Terminals 1 and 2. There is reportedly another one at the west end of the Commuter Terminal (as you’re facing the terminal from the outside, the west side is on the left; exiting the terminal, you’d turn right).

5 comments

That’s excellent news! Hopefully more airports will consider air-side relief stations — makes it so much easier than having to go outside and back through security! Maybe we ought to lobby the airlines to encourage the airports to do this — after all, it’s the airlines who benefit financially when we travel with our dogs…

This news comes at the right time! I have 54 minutes between flights to catch Alaska Air to Hawaii with an in cabin dog. I have been very anxious about this stop and the time it would take to find a relief area and go back through security(first time traveling by air with dog in cabin!).
Thank you!

Yay for good timing! Dana, you’re the first person I know who’s doing the in-cabin pup on Alaska to Hawaii thing — would you let us know how it goes? If you have time, I’d love to hear about your prep work too…. My e-mail address is [email protected]. SO interested!!

My service dog got to use this yesterday! It’s a huge godsend, as I have to be pat down each time I got through security,and it can take forever, especially in places like DFW who have very few female TSA agents.

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While I generally don't accept guest posts, reports from readers are crucial and treasured sources of information. If you have travel tips, photos, recommendations, or a personal travel story that you would like to contribute to Dog Jaunt, please send me email:[email protected]